TIGHT REGULATIONS
Such regulations are not unique to India. Vietnam has asked tech companies to open local offices and store data domestically, while Australia's parliament has passed a bill to force companies to give police access to encrypted data. Germany requires social media companies to remove illegal hate speech within 24 hours or face fines.
Nevertheless, the proposal would further strain relations between India and global technology firms. They have been at odds since last year due to federal proposals requiring them to store more user data locally to better assist legal investigations.
The new rules, called "intermediary guidelines", also propose requiring companies with more than 5 million users in India to have a local office and a nodal officer for "24x7 coordination with law enforcement".
When asked by a government agency or through a court order, companies should within 24 hours "remove or disable access" to "unlawful" content, they stipulate.
The rules also mandate companies to reveal the origin of a message when asked, which if enforced would deal a blow to WhatsApp which boasts of end-to-end encryption to protect user privacy. WhatsApp has battled criticism after fake messages about child kidnap gangs on its platform sparked mob lynchings in India last year.
"You have created a monster, you should have the ability to control the monster," a senior government official said, referring to WhatsApp.
"We remain flexible in principle (to suggestions), but we definitely want them to be more accountable, especially the big companies," the official said.
